Heart transplants suspended

Heart transplant operations in Scotland have been suspended amid fears over a rise in the number of deaths, NHS Greater Glasgow said.

Health chiefs said transplants at the National Heart Transplant Unit at Glasgow Royal Infirmary have been halted while experts carry out a review.

The move comes after four of the 11 patients who received transplants this year died within 30 days.

While the expert review is taking place, Scottish patients will be switched to the waiting list for the transplant unit at the Freeman Hospital in Newcastle-upon-Tyne.

A spokesman for NHS Greater Glasgow said: "This means that those who are on the Scottish waiting list will not be denied the chance of a new heart while transplant operations are suspended in Glasgow."

Organ retrieval, pre-operative assessment, and post-op care will continue to be provided by the Scottish team.

The external review by medical and technical experts will begin next month and take several weeks.

Health chiefs said "routine" heart transplants were for the sickest patients whose quality of life was very poor and who were not expected to survive more than a year on medical treatment. Those classed as "urgent" cases received transplants because they were otherwise not expected to survive more than a few weeks.

The health board said the "early mortality rate" at Glasgow - the number of patients dying within 30 days - was normally in line with the UK average of 13%. But this year four of the 11 patients transplanted, or 36%, died within 30 days.

It said such reviews were not unusual, and one had recently taken place at Papworth hospital in Cambridgeshire.